Most Afraid of Not Being in Love at The Right Time

I turned around, wanting to say something to break the silence, but saw Richie concentrating on looking at his phone.

It was the same scene that had happened countless times in the past month.

I thought I had gotten used to it, but for some reason, my heart still felt clogged.” Richie, can you concentrate on accompanying me today and not look at your phone?”

Richie raised his eyes and the words that were about to come out of his mouth were swallowed back subconsciously the moment he saw my eyes.

He paused for a moment, nodded and said, “Okay.”

I was somewhat delighted by the unexpected answer. I started talking and enthusiastically pulled Richie to discuss the scenery there.

Although Richie did not react much, he would occasionally give a brief reply.

Soon, the line reached there.

I was about to step forward, Richie's cell phone suddenly rang.

The sharp and abrupt ringing sound instantly tightened the string in my mind and then continued to pull and stretch it. 

The smile on my lips fell back and I looked at Richie with a slight pleading look, “Richie, it's our turn, let's go up first.”

Richie pursed his lips and said, “I'll be back soon.”

“What phone call? Is there so…."

Before the word ‘important’ could be said, Richie had already left.

The staff member urged impatiently, “Do you want to ride or not? If not, get out of the way.”

Complex emotions rushed through my heart and soon calmed down. I looked at Richie's back and said in a hoarse voice, “Sorry, I will go now.”

I sat in the hot air balloon. The moment the flames lit up above her head, I saw Richie walking out hurriedly through the crowd.

He had not even thought about explaining anything to me.

The hot air balloon slowly rose into the sky and Richie's figure gradually shrank until he got into the car and drove away. My clenched fists loosened and I completely lost all hope.

There was bitterness in my eyes, but I told myself in my heart, ‘It does not matter, I don't want Richie anymore.’

Half an hour later, I returned to the ground and my cell phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket.

I took it out and found that it was in the friend group that Richie and I were in and everyone was chatting.

[Richie was too crazy today, he just rushed over like that.]

[I can't believe that such a calm person would actually fight.]

[There are many things you can't see. Richie did everything for Tiffany before, including smoking, drinking and fighting. The only thing missing is a tattoo.]

My eyelashes trembled as I scrolled through the chat history until a video appeared. 

After clicking it, the scene was in a French restaurant. It was crowded with people, but Richie and Tiffany could still be seen.

In the background, someone was yelling, “I'm having a meal with a woman, what does it have to do with you? Get out of here!”

Amid the noise, Richie's calm but firm voice penetrated the screen and reached my eardrums, “She is mine.”

A silent muffled sound echoed fiercely in my mind, shocking me to the point of trembling with fear.

Tiffany was his, but what about her?

Was I a victim of unlove, or a burden that had long been discarded?

My eyes were swollen and painful and my thoughts suddenly went back to a month ago, when I had just learned of Tiffany's existence. Everything in the past was like an illusion, falling apart before my eyes.

I stumbled back home, looked at everything familiar and began to call Richie repeatedly, hoping that he would come back and tell myself that it was all fake.